There It Was, Gone. And My Data With It

The recent bankruptcy filing by one cloud provider and the disappearing act pulled by another bring to mind this old chestnut: caveat emptor…buyer beware.

With so many cloud providers and data storage vendors flooding the marketplace today, it can be daunting for companies large and small to navigate through the noise. Are they just a URL or a going concern? You want to know there’s substance behind the claims, financial stability in the enterprise, leadership with vision and the ability to make that vision reality.

There is only one way to know. You have to do your due diligence, financial and otherwise. After that, you need to follow best practices regarding your data. No matter what service you use, responsibility for your data is yours and no one else’s.

Going with a start-up or lesser known brand has risks. Most every company starts out as one or both of those, so it isn’t inherently bad. But start-ups and lesser known brands are more susceptible to failure than a company with a track record, sizeable client base, history of growth and real people to talk to when needed.

Young companies often don’t have their own infrastructure. They broker another’s data center services behind the scenes. Some companies also deliberately choose this as their business model with no plans to provision their own data centers. If you pay them and they don’t pay the actual provider, it’s lights out for them and for you. So, where is your data then? How and from whom do you get it returned?

Best practices dictate that you always have a copy of your data, as close to real time as you can manage. If your data is with a cloud provider, back up to a second cloud provider or keep a copy at you company. A quality cloud services provider can help enormously with securing your data and ensuring your compliance with regulations and laws. However, as mentioned above, your data is your responsibility.

Low-price services certainly have their appeal. But ask yourself why they are so low and if the risk of exposure, consequences of failure and limited capabilities are worth the money saved.